The Youl family and their Ultimate Xterra camper trailer

Chambers Gorge

A short drive had us heading further south into the Flinders, this time staying for a couple of nights at Chambers Gorge. Trent had been here previously and rated it pretty highly. We were a bit more off the beaten track, and were looking forward to staying somewhere free of (m)any other people and were not disappointed.

You can see how crowded it is here…

Spoilt for choice, it took quite some time to settle on the right spot, but were soon set up and relaxing. The flies started to become a little annoying, however they were soon replaced with a fairly strong wind which became a feature of the afternoon. Kids tried to play cards (yes that went about as well as you might expect), while the adults… well, I’m not sure what we ended up doing… lots of not much really. Before we knew it the sun was setting and it was time for dinner and bed.

The following day was planned as a campsite day. We went for a walk to see some indigenous carvings early in the morning, then came back to get the fire going which was going to slow cook a lamb curry for dinner. As on previous trips, this is an arduous task – the fire requiring constant supervision, and the supervisors requiring constant hydration.

Enjoying a walk in the cool of the morning.

Amazing scenery, walking through the river bed.

It was wonderful to watch the kids find fun and things to do here. Building houses and forts from river rocks under the shade of a big old tree was a real highlight. Trent and I also took the opportunity to get the drones out and do some exploring and take some footage of the area.

Beautiful spot to camp

This was going very well… until Trent decided to send his Spark to explore the entrance to a cave we could see a LOOONNNNGGG way in the distance. Somewhere in the distance Spark decided to lose connection. No problem – these things are supposed to return home when they do this, and surely as it gets closer it will re-connect. So we waited… and watched… and waited…

Dave: “It’s not coming back, is it?”

Trent: “Hmmm, doesn’t appear so.”

Dave: “Shall we go and find it?!!”

Trent: “Umm… sure…”

That’s how I remember the conversation before we set out – Trent may have a slightly different, more colourful interpretation.

So, set out we did. Walking probably for about 1km, before doing our best mountain goat impersonation, heading up the hill. Up, up, up. The app said we were getting closer, and we kept heading in the direction the spark was reporting, the hill getting steeper and steeper. I was pretty determined to find it, Trent probably less so. Until I hit the bottom of a sheer cliff with the drone indicating it was still about 5 metres away horizontally. Nooo!

Bush skills that even Russell Coight would be envious of…

Discretion, setting sun, safety and all that boring stuff… we admitted defeat and headed back to camp. Not before the natives back at camp became a little worried and sent a car out looking for us. Not sure why… we knew where we were!

Dinner time

Still, the lamb when we arrived back at camp was extra tender before a few drinks of sorrow for Spark around the fire – Trent already planning his replacement(s).

Next day we were heading onto Wilpena Pound, which is much more commercial and ‘touristy’ so we savoured our last night out here, this really is an awesome spot and will definitely be back at some point in the future.